GOLF: Say no to swinging slow? Who wants an extra 15 yards?

By Jason Barry

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The most common phrase I hear when I’m on the range teaching is “I’m swinging too fast, I need to slow down.” Professional golfers swing anywhere from 105-125 mph and are not thinking about slowing their swings down. Speed creates distance and I can’t recall a student saying they wouldn’t take an extra 15 yards.

Take your driver. Flip it upside down so the handle of the club is closer to the ground. Put your normal golf grip on the shaft just under the club head and hover the handle above the ground. Make a complete back swing and feel your weight shift forward to start the down swing feeling like your accelerating through impact. I want you to exaggerate swinging as hard as you can while coming to a balanced finish.

If done properly you should hear a loud whoosh outside your front leg on the through swing. This means we haven’t lost any “lag” and have transferred our weight successfully. A lot of you will hear a whoosh mid down swing or no whoosh at all. This means you are “casting” or releasing all your energy too early and aren’t maximizing the potential of your golf swing.

After swinging the club upside down 20 times, flip the club back over. When you put your grip on the club you should feel the weight of the club head. This insures your grip pressure is relaxed and that we are tension free. When you go to make your swing keep the feeling of your weight shifting forward listening for a loud whoosh outside your front leg.

I want you swinging hard on the golf course. Most of you thinking about slowing down will hit much shorter shots and even more of them will be offline. Ernie Els is swinging fast even though he may not look like he is. Ernie has a great tempo but is generating a lot of speed. Keep the concentration on swinging hard on the through swing and you’ll be hitting high, powerful golf shots.